$$ Cash 4 Seat $$

The guarantee is $1.5 million. Has been for some time now. Even so, they still call it the “Sunday Million” — a.k.a., the most popular Sunday “major” around. This week saw that massive guarantee easily met once again, as 8,358 players entered the $215 tournament, making for a total prize pool of $1,671,600. The top 1,260 finishers would be paid, with a whopping $245,897.13 scheduled to go to the winner.

After a little over five hours of play, the money bubble had long burst and the field had been whittled down to 500 players. With the average stack 167,160, sejmajneim sat atop the leaderboard with 984,663, followed by jfyjfy6 (762,347) and KingDonation (678,831). While most of the stable of Team PokerStars pros were in action today, just Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan, Chris “Money800″ Moneymaker, and Vlad Zguba remained alive with chips with 500 left, although all three were relatively short-stacked.

Moneymaker would last to 444th. A little later, with 378 players left, a moderator had chimed in over at Table 389 to respond to some chat. Metsfan512 took the opportunity to make a suggestion on behalf of the field.

Metsfan512: we’d like to discuss a deal

They weren’t asked, but it was assumed the other 377 players weren’t quite ready to talk about chopping up the remaining prize pool.

Let’s say we suddenly entered into some bizarre universe where all 378 did want to make a deal. And even stranger, let’s say they all decided to ignore chip counts and just to split the remaining prize pool up evenly. What would they have received? Well, at that point there was still a hefty $1,314,600.06 of prize money left to be awarded. Leaving the $30,000 aside for the winner — as the terms for chopping dictate must occur — that would mean each of the 378 remaining players would get $3,398.41. That’s better than 28th place prize money!

Of course, they played on, and soon tyson219 knocked out the Ukrainian Zguba in 316th place. Khan was severely short-stacked for a while, but managed to survive, then, eventually, thrive. At the seven-hour mark just 100 players remained and Khan was right in the middle of the pack in 53rd. At that point the chip leader was 403vader with 2.83 million, followed by Mark “newhizzle” Newhouse (2.089 million), PSANDTT (2.088 million), Daniel “amichaiKK” Makowsky (2.03 million), and JazzyFace (1.72 million).

With 50 left, Run dat Game had moved into the lead with 4.48 million, followed by amichaiKK and newhizzle, with RaiNKhan in 23rd. As the tourney crossed the eight-hour mark, 40 remained and Khan had catapulted into the lead with 5.27 million, followed by Run dat Game and seppmann7. With 30 left, newhizzle had moved back in front with 5.72 million, with Khan slipping to seventh. And with 20 left, TheTaker was in front with 9.17 million, followed by seppmann7 and amichaiKK, dylanmarks25, and newhizzle, with Khan in 13th and Amit “AMAK316″ Makhija in 14th.

Following a few more eliminations, a couple of huge pots between rockyone123 and seppmann7 resulted in the latter busting in 13th place and rockyone123 rocketing up into first with more than 26 million. That was more than 15 million ahead of second-place TheTaker with 9.8 million, and nearly a third of the chips in play with 12 players remaining. Hitting the rail soon after were both amichaiKK (12th) and AMAK316 (11th). With 10 players left, rockyone123 was dominating one five-handed table with 28.8 million, while newhizzle had assumed control of the other with his stack of 19.4 million. Finally, Raindrops_69’s pocket kings outlasted TheTaker’s pocket tens to knock TheTaker out in 10th, and the final nine were set:

Seat 1: Stev0L_ — 7,329,307
Seat 2: rockyone123 — 28,645,587
Seat 3: DeuceBuster — 7,090,637
Seat 4: troyones — 2,375,282
Seat 5: RaiNKhAN — 6,098,972
Seat 6: dyplo — 1,048,384
Seat 7: newhizzle — 19,394,266
Seat 8: dylanmarks25 — 2,461,479
Seat 9: Raindrops_69 — 9,136,086

With the blinds 150,000/300,000 (ante 30,000), Raindrops_69 was quickly in action again, raising to 633,678 from the cutoff, only to see Stev0L_ reraise all in for 6,574,307 from the button. The blinds got out, and Raindrops_69 quickly called, showing [9c][9d] to Stev0L_’s [7c][7d]. The flop came [Kh][9h][2h], further securing Raindrops_69’s lead. The turn was the [Jh], providing Stev0L_ with hopes of a chop, but the river was the [Kc], and Stev0L_ was out in ninth.

Not longer after that came another big battle of pocket pairs, this one involving Hevad Khan. newhizzle opened with a min-raise to 600,000 from UTG, and rockyone123 called from middle position. Khan then shoved all in for 5,608,972 from the small blind. newhizzle folded, but rockyone123 promptly called, showing [Ks][Kh] to Khan’s [Jc][Js]. The board came [5d][Ac][2h][5h][3c], and Khan hit the rail in eighth.

The remaining seven battled for a couple more orbits, then with the blinds up to 200,000/400,000 (ante 40,000), DeuceBuster raised to 850,000 from early position and it folded around to dylanmarks25 in the big blind who reraised all in for a touch more to 886,479. DeuceBuster called, showing [Ad][2d] to dylanmarks25’s [5d][4d]. The community cards were [As][8h][7c][Jc][Ah], and dylanmarks25 was out in seventh.

With six remaining, rockyone123 continued to maintain the lead with 29 million, followed closely by newhizzle with 26.1 million. A short-stacked troyones open-pushed from UTG+1 for 1,915,846 with [Kd][Kc] and got called by Raindrops_69 in the small blind who held [Ad][9c]. The flop came [8c][9h][3h], giving Raindrops_69 a pair of nines but troyones still was well in front. But the turn was the [9s], making trips for Raindrops_69. The river was the [Jd], and troyones was out in sixth.

Next it was dyplo’s turn to open-shove from under the gun for 1,160,304. DeuceBuster called from the big blind, showing [Ah][Qc] to dyplo’s [Js][9d]. The flop was good for dyplo — [Jc][6d][5c] — and the turn brought the [4d], meaning dyplo was still ahead. But the river brought the [Ad], giving DeuceBuster the better pair and knocking dyplo out in fifth.

In the very next hand, DeuceBuster was all in with pocket tens against newhizzle’s pocket kings and managed to draw a third ten, moving DeuceBuster up to 28 million and a virtual tie with rockyone123, and dropping newhizzle to 12.2 million, a bit behind Raindrops_69 who had 14.6 million. Those four would engage in a lengthy battle, and over the next half-hour newhizzle would gradually claim back most of what he’d lost to DeuceBuster to move back into second behind rockyone123.

The quartet continued to scrap, and DeuceBuster continued to slide. Finally, 45 minutes after the prior elimination — after some 80 hands of four-handed play — came the next knockout. With the blinds up to 400,000/800,000 (ante 80,000), newhizzle raised to 1.6 million from UTG, then DeuceBuster shoved over the top for 6,424,438 from the big blind. newhizzle called with [Kc][Js], and would need help to overcome DeuceBuster’s [As][8c]. None came from the first four cards — [2h][4c][3d][3c] — but the river brought the [Jd], and DeuceBuster was gone in fourth.

In contrast to the lengthy back-and-forthing during four-handed play, the next two eliminations would come in rapid fashion. Seven hands later, chip leader newhizzle open-raised all in and the short stack Raindrops_69 called with his last 8,998,012, showing [Ah][2c] to newhizzle’s [Kh][5s]. The flop was [Qs][As][Qh], and Raindrops_69 appeared in decent shape. But the turn and river brought two more spades — [4s][3s] — giving newhizzle a flush and knocking Raindrops_69 out in third.

Heads-up play then lasted exactly one hand. At that point, newhizzle had 57,535,064 to rockyone123’s 26,044,936. newhizzle raised to 1.6 million from the small blind/button, rockyone123 reraised to 4 million, newhizzle pushed all in, and rockyone123 called. rockyone123 showed [Ac][Ts] and newhizzle [Jd][Jh]. The board came [6s][4c][4h][Qs][2c], and newhizzle’s jacks held, giving him the win and the nearly quarter-million dollar prize.

RSS readers click through to see replay

Congratulations to Mark “newhizzle” Newhouse for his victory in the Sunday Million! Be sure to come back to the PokerStars blog for recaps of all of the Sunday Tournaments.

$1,500,000 Guarantee Sunday Million Results (12-13-09)

1. newhizzle — $245,897.13
2. rockyone123 — $179,697.00
3. Raindrops_69 — $125,370.00
4. DeuceBuster — $83,580.00
5. dyplo — $66,864.00
6. tryones — $50.148.00
7. dylanmarks25 — $33,432.00
8. Team PokerStars Pro Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan — $18,387.60
9. Stev0L_ — $12,954.90

Hevad Khan is not the same Khan we met in 2007 and that’s just fine with him. In fact, Khan is not the same Khan we knew this time yesterday. The difference: Khan is a million bucks richer today.

Last night, Team PokerStars Pro Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan took down the 2008 Caesars Palace Classic for the $1 million first prize.

This is Khan’s biggest single win to date and pushes him over the $2.5 million mark in live tournament winnings (to say nothing of the piles of cash he has made online at PokerStars).

Ten months ago, we walked through the cavernous Atlantis Resort and Casino with Hevad Khan on the way the opening party for the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. He stood tall above us and if we hadn’t known it wasn’t true, we would’ve insisted he’d had a lobotomy. He was calm, cool, collected and nothing like the dancing primate we’d known at the World Series of Poker. Something in the big man had changed and the ten-minute conversation was proof he was on his way to something far more sublime than a televised bulldozer dance.

After winning nearly a million bucks at the World Series, a switch flipped in Khan’s head. He told us he had high hopes for 2008. In March, he won more than $100,000 in a side event at the Foxwoods Poker Classic. He won the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up for the same amount in the same month. Two hunded grand in the first three months of the year would be enough to keep some people in high cotton for the next ten months. Khan wasn’t satisfied.

The ensuing months were not as kind. His 2008 World Series did not go to plan. His success in March seemed pale in comparison to the chilly months of cards he endured. Two things snapped him out of it. First, was a trip to Korea.

“I discovered myself there,” Khan said. “I came back a different person.”

Second, he had a killer weekend online in which he won nearly $100,000 in a couple of days, including a $58,000 second place finish in the Sunday Warm-Up. Khan was back.

By mid-year, Khan had won in the neighborhood of half a million bucks, but was looking for that elusive firtst place finish in a $10,000 event. He finally got it last night after beating out more than 300 players for the Caesars Place Classic title. The change in Khan’s demeanor was not lost on the official tournament reports who noted, he is now “considerably more subtle. He rarely celebrates winning hands or leaves his seat during play.”

Khan gives a classic mug for the camera

Congrats, Hevad, on another great finish.

by Hevad Khan

I have positive thoughts on the 2008 WCOOP. I was never much of a mixed game player, but at the end of this entire series I have gone from a complete newbie to a knowledgable player in all mixed games to the point of being able to hold my own in all of the WCOOP fields.

The WCOOP, as Tom McEvoy pointed out earlier in PokerStars Blog article, has every type of poker tournament that you could dream of entering.

My results ended in four cashes, one of which including a win for $125,000.00 inthe $25,000.00 Heads-Up Overflow Tournament. I am very pleased with my success, and the opportunity that was brought my way.

Everyone coming fresh off of the 2008 WCOOP who has had a chance to satellite into the EPT-London Main Event should expect a very big field this year, along with an exciting time in the rainy heart of London.

If you sit at my table, you better run, because I’m going to BULLDOZE YOU ALL!!!!

There’s a lot of stuff going on in the Amazon Room, between the remaining tables. The most notable is a player wandering around, getting well known around the room as the player who went on break with chips and came back to find his table broken and his chips gone. He literally can’t find his chips anymore, causing him obvious stress, and some mild amusement to the players.

On a table in the green zone a player is out of his chair, whooping and celebrating a survival hand. Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan looks over at the guy with a knowing smile. It’s easy for him to remember a time not so long ago.

This time last year it was Hevad’s parade - a high profile contender for poker’s biggest prize. He ran his incredible performance into sixth place and $956,243; a vocally charged whirlwind that had the TV cameras swooning and several cans of nicely packaged and memorable footage for the highlight reels.

Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan

Twelve months later and midway through the first level of the day Hevad Khan was at 380K. This is a pretty sizeable stack for most but he didn’t seem prepared to wait and had soon spun it up to nearly 500K.

It seems one good run is not enough for the Poughkeepsie man. Call it his already natural playing style, temperament or just the fact that his eyebrows add a certain menace to his face, Hevad has turned it up a gear, is controlling his table, and has plans to make it two in a row. As he said himself after my colleague Maria Mayrinck asked him if he intended to do it all again… “Yeah, just watch.”

I’ve seen it before but Hevad goes into a kind of trance when busy in a hand, playing in slow motion period like an old 78 speed LP. His World Series priors mean the cameras are never far away. He managed to ignore the foot long microphone hanging above his head and mucked his hand. He had a set but his opponent was betting big, a factor that took Hevad five minutes of questions before letting the matter go.

Tiffany Michelle is also at this table, another cause for the cameras to stop by. With the mike hanging over her head this time like a scythe she asked Hevad if he had any advice, since he’d been this far before.

“Sit out…” he replied, pausing for effect before letting on that he was kidding.

Hevad’s table presence is unmistakable. He’s a big man; big hands, big arms, and those eyebrows. He’s also a friendly guy, but when he plays a hand, and you’re up against that slow motion trance, you can almost predict what carnage will come. It’s like the slow movements are to save as much energy as possible. He doesn’t waste it at all.

A raise and a call. Both the raiser and Hevad checked the nine high flop to see a jack on the turn. A 30K raise to Hevad who asked for a count just to be sure. He rested his hands on the table and waited. When he was ready he slowly picked up some of the green 25K’s and re-raised, 80K total. His opponent, who now had to stop his massage, counted his stack. He has only yellow chips but calls with Hevad watching him. The river card is a six. It’s checked to Hevad who bets big once more, too big to keep up with, and good for another big pot.

His course is true, his actions strong. Hevad Khan is looking for a repeat, up to 600K.

***

The PokerStars video blog team caught up with a few players this morning, including PokerStars sponsored player Kara Scott, who talked about her chances after a few set backs late last night…

Watch WSOP 08: Kara Scott Day 4 Pre Play Chat on PokerStars.tv

Hevad Khan just raised seven out of ten pots. I’d been told this was the way he plays. Really, I stood and watched them.

For many the Team PokerStars Pro is famous for two things. First, the video clip he sent to PokerStars showing himself playing 28 sit and goes at the same time, proving the speculation that he was in fact a bot, to be undeniably wrong.

Second thing on the list of most memorable Hevad moments is his performance at the World Series last year, where the main event saw a talented and spirited Hevad charge his way to a sixth place finish, good for $956,243 and a place in the general poker consciousness.

The contrast between then and now couldn’t be more different. By his own admission Hevad is a calmer player these days, and at table Blue 34 sits as the quiet one at the table, letting his chips do the talking if you like. Whether he’s suffering from a long day or a long Series is unclear. I suspect it’s neither of those, just that he doesn’t need to play in any other way. Instead his movements are slow and considered - at least during a pot. When he wins he can stack chips on warp speed.

Just recently this has been happening a lot.

First a raise from Hevad, re-raised by Steve Weinstein in the nine seat, who bumps it up to 14,500. Hevad moves in slow motion, like he’s playing out the pinnacle action sequence of a low budget movie. He picks off some chips, actually all of his chips, and move them in the middle.

Hevad Khan

That taught them. Another pot to Hevad.

Next hand, Hevad raising again. Nothing fancy, just a straight forward 2,500. No takers, another pot for Hevad.

He raises the next hand, the same process, the same result – another pot to Hevad.

You get the picture… I’d guess it’s still going on as I write this. Quieter than last year but no less effective; Hevad was on 36K. Now that figure is more like 60K.

Hevad Khan has previous form when it comes to popular video clips on the internet. When he was just a wee slip of an online avatar, known simply as RaiNKhan, he proved to the PokerStars moderators that he was not a pokerbot by filming himself playing 26 sit n goes simultaneously on the site in a clip that soon made its way around cyberspace on the poker forums and discussion boards. Just one posting of the video on YouTube has been viewed more than 80,000 times, and it also appears on plenty of other video platforms.

When he made it to the World Series main event final table last year, playing in the colours of a PokerStars Supernova, he earned himself a good deal of television time through his animated antics around the table, footage that has since been cut and spliced together, then set to music, so that YouTube now recognises the search term “Hevad Khan dance”.

This week, RaiNKhan: TV star is back as he became the subject of the PokerStars.tv version of MTV’s Cribs. He invited the video blog team to his Las Vegas house where they watched him play online, work out, and saw his private chef prepare dinner for the champion. We posted the first instalment of what will be a three-part documentary on the all-new PokerStars.tv site last night and it had already been viewed 20,000 times. Khan is quite an attraction in the online video community.

“You like it? You think I should do it again?” Khan asked when I caught up with him around the tables moments ago. Sure, if it’s not too intrusive, I told him. “No, I love it,” he said.

Celebrity is a major part of poker these days, but it’s still far more important what happens on the tables than what happens on ESPN or YouTube. And despite what you might think, Khan knows that better than anyone, which is why he’s got that chef, why he’s going to the gym, and why he’s remaining wholly focused on his game today in the Brasilia Room.

It took me about 15 minutes just to grab a word as he was involved in three pots back-to-back, all of which he won. His table image these days is one of intense concentration and measured aggression, and he’s the very epitome of perfect etiquette. He still enters a lot of pots, usually in position and usually with a raise. That’s the way to do it. Worthy of TV star.

***

So, without further fanfare, here’s the second part of the RaiNKhan PokerStars.tv Cribs documentary. One more part will follow.

Watch WSOP 08: Hevad Khan’s House Part 2 on PokerStars.tv

Remember, all previous video blogs can be found on PokerStars.tv, where you can also find details of a special freeroll tournament to celebrate the launch of the site.

It’s a fair assumption that the life of anyone reading this blog has been changed in one way or another by online poker. Not necessarily dramatically, not even especially perceptibly; maybe your style in your regular home game has become slightly more aggressive, or you have a new baseball cap, something like that.

At the other end of the spectrum, someone like Hevad Khan’s life has been turned on its head. It’s been well documented by now how the 27-year-old from Poughkeepsie, New York, turned to online poker from Starcraft after talking to friends at college. He deposited some money that he earned for graduating school into PokerStars and before long he had to get a friend to film RaiNKhan, as he is known online, playing 26 sit n goes simultaneously to prove to the ever-watchful support department that he wasn’t a pokerbot. Once the watchdogs were convinced, he used the PokerStars route to earn his place at the 2007 World Series main event, where he came sixth, for just shy of a million life-changing bucks.

Shortly thereafter, RaiNKhan became a member of Team PokerStars Pro and began travelling the world as ambassador for the site, racking up a succession of other major tournament results, including another $100,000 for a win in a warm-up event at the Foxwoods Poker Classic. But that doesn’t mean he forgot his roots. He always travels, be it to Monte Carlo, the Bahamas, or Austria with lap-top in hand, and he still plays pretty much every day online.

Which, sometimes, is just as well.

“How’s your series been?” I asked him a few minutes ago, when we caught up as he sat in today’s $1,500 event. “Absolutely brutal,” was the brisk and honest reply. He explained how he’d played every single one of the no limit events in this year’s series but is yet to cash. “But I’m killing it online,” he went on. He is too. In various sit n goes, MTTs and major Sunday events in recent weeks, he’s cleared about $120,000 in winnings. Enough for a few more buy-ins.

And when you play as many tournaments as RaiNKhan, you know that form is a temporary thing, while class is permanent. The New Yorker also knows the importance of confidence.

“Right,” he said. “I’m tough. I don’t give up. I’m going to start winning now.”

At the World Series, there isn’t such a thing as merely getting one’s feet wet. If you dip in a toe, there’s a good chance you’re going knee deep without much more effort. Now donning our hip-waders, we’re navigating the Rio and finding a number of people who have been up to their eyeballs in poker for the past three weeks. Today, many of them have chosen to do battle in the wildest of all waters: the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Rebuy event.

The rebuy period has just ended and players are off to take a break from the all-in-blind festival. As the players streamed toward the exit, I found Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan sitting at his table. I asked, for lack of a better question at the time, how his Series had been going while I had been gone.

“Awful,” he said, dropping his head to the table.

I already knew the answer. Khan has had an unmemorable World Series. Or, better stated, he’s had a World Series that has not been worth remembering. I should never have brought it up, especially after Khan had just taken one of the “that’s poker” beats at the end of the level. If there’s one thing you shouldn’t do, it’s remind a guy things haven’t been going so well. I thought for a moment that I had just ended our breaktime interview before it started.

Less than one year ago, Khan was on top of the world, earning nearly a million bucks at the final table of the 2007 Main Event. Few things are going to compare to that, no matter how well his Series has been going. I kicked myself and decided to let Khan head off for his break.

Then Khan’s head poped up with his trademark, beaming smile.

“Despite being 0-17, I feel great,” he said. “I had a great weekend.”

That is no lie. Khan finished second in the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up. What’s more, one of his horses did exceptionally well this weekend, too. That is, Khan made more money this weekend than most people make all year. Thus, the big smile.

More than that, though, Khan’s been working on his game and focusing on its finer points. He spent some time with a friend in Seoul, Korea and has come here with his mind set on playing his best game, regardless of the results.

“I’ve been working on not being nervous at the table,” he said. A more clever interviewer might have suggested less Red Bull. Instead, I merely wondered how Khan, one of the more pronounced presences at any tables could ever be nervous.

“Most of the time,” Khan said, “I think everybody else is more scared at the table.”

Scared, nervous, or just otherwise wrapped up in the everyday struggle that is the World Series, Khan seems like he is a good place, regardless. He has just a couple of minutes until he has to shift gears and start playing non-rebuy poker. And, I don’t care who you are, after the rebuy period brawl, the transition to real poker is no easy task. For more with Khan, see the video blog below.

Watch WSOP 08: Hevad’s Top Tips For WSOP Qualification on PokerStars.tv

Within the next hour, Joe Hachem will return to the room and fight for a seat at the $1,500 PLO Hi-Lo final table. Then, in a little more than two hours we’ll see the elite of the poker world sit down for the $50,000 HORSE event.

The past 12 months have been kind to Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan. First, there was that matter of making the final table at the 2007 World Series and winning nearly a million bucks. Just last week, Khan took down the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up for nearly $100,000. Just a few days later, Khan traveled to Connecticut to play at Foxwoods. Turns out, that was a pretty good decisioin.

This week, Khan beat out a field of 192 players in the $2,000 no-limit hold’em prelim event at the Foxwoods Poker Classic. Khan got heads up with 2006 World Series final table player Michael Binger and emerged with the victory.

Khan’s victory earned him $108,187.

Congrats, Hevad.

Note: Last Sunday, Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan took down the Sunday Warm-Up for nearly $100,000. Brazilian PokerStars blogger Maria took the opportunity to chat up RaiNKhAN and get his take on the win and everything that’s happened to him since the 2007 World Series. For the original version of this story, visit the PokerStars Brazilian Blog. A translated version of her story and interview is here.

Don’t be surprised if you are shocked when you meet Hevad Khan, better known online as RaiNKhAN. This is not a metaphor — you may literally feel an electric shock when you shake his hand, because this 23-year-old player from Poughkeepsie, NY, may just be the most energetic person that the poker world has ever seen.

But don’t be fooled by his enthusiastic celebrations at the 2007 WSOP, where he went on to make the final table and take a brilliant sixth place with a good sense of humor and charisma. Hevad is a machine when it comes to poker. His insane ability to play several tables at the same time at one time led to suspicion that it could not be a human playing, but a bot. This poker bulldozer, who has been an elite member of the PokerStars Team Pro since August 2007, took down one of the most coveted Sunday tournaments held on PokerStars, the Sunday Warm-Up. He won a bit more than $97,000 and was kind enough to share some words with us while he took it “slow” and only played 12 tables.

Maria: Hi Hevad, how are you?
HEVAD: Fine, taking it easy, only got 12 tables up now.

Maria: Hehe, I can imagine that must very boring. Well, since multi tabling is one of your many talents, why don’t we start off with you telling us a little bit about this knack you have for playing a ton of tables at the same time, and how you were once accused of being a bot.

HEVAD: Ever since I started playing online poker during fall semester at school [University of Albany, where he majored in pre-med, then accounting then math, but then dropped out to become a poker professional--something which did not thrill his father, a doctor, at all] it was 8 tables at once. I busted my bankroll about 15 times before I finally got into a groove. I would love to have one of those stories you often hear of people who deposit like 5 bucks and never look back, but that was far from my case. I think I am privileged that my family is well off so I never had to worry much about the money, but also that may have hindered me in the beginning. Learning how to bankroll manage is just about the most important lesson a newbie can and must have.

But anyway, I’ve always played many tables at once, like 30-36 tables, 20 being a minimum. So at this time the other players, who would see me on all these tables at once, started reporting me to PokerStars, saying I was a bot, and that it was not possible for one person to play this many tables. So PokerStars, who takes their security very seriously, closed my account in order to investigate what was going on. But they did this on a Sunday, the most +EV day for any professional player, so obviously I went nuts because I wanted to play. I mean, I understand they are looking out for their player’s safety, but I hadn’t done anything wrong. So I decided to solve the problem right then and there, and my roommate took his camcorder we did a little intro video for Stars, and then he filmed me playing 26 tables and we sent it to PokerStars. They were impressed with what they saw, even sent me an email saying “Congratulations” and immediately unblocked my account so I could play on Sunday. I am sure that this initiative is the reason for the amount of tables that sites allow players to open at once nowadays (24 tables).

Maria: So how did you start building your bankroll online?
HEVAD Well, after I busted like 15 times, I started really dominating the $16.00 sitngos, up until a point where I had a 7% ROI in the course of 7,000 sitngos played. This may not seem like an impressive ROI, but if you do the math, you’ll see that it’s plenty of money for 7,000 sngs.

Maria: 7,000 sitngos?
HEVAD: That is nothing. I have now played over 27,000 sitngos, 2,000 tournaments, and 150,000 hands in cash games, all meticulously accounted. And that’s just online, not counting live, of course.

Maria: Thump (noise of me falling of my chair)
HEVAD: That’s part of who I am, as a player and as a person. Playing many tables always came natural to me, and I can’t say that playing this many tables has made me win more money, because it certainly hasn’t, but it has made me a better player. Honestly, I think I have seen every situation possible in poker — and taken every possible bad beat — and I’m still learning. And playing many tables is what keeps me focused, because I always have to be “on” making several tough decisions on different levels, so for me it works.

Maria: I’ll be honest, I’m not a big fan of sitngos because it’s so mechanical and so difficult (maybe I’m just a bad sitngo player,), but I really admire people who make a living out of it and still enjoy it. What is it about SNGs that appeals so much to you?
HEVAD: What I like the most about sitngos, which, by the way, I rarely play at the moment, since I am so focused on tournaments and cash games, is the “game of chicken” involved. Like, who loses their head first. It’s a game of all-ins, and knowing when to call and when to fold at the right moment, correct decisions based on math, but within these correct decisions (which should pay off in the long run) there is a lot of short term gamble, and I enjoy the gamble involved in sitngos. The important thing for a sitngo player is to try and reduce the gamble factor by constantly improving and trying to make the “most” correct decisions, but once the chips go in, it’s out of your hands, even if you are a favorite in the hand.

Maria: So, getting back to your bankroll, how did it finally start growing?
HEVAD: With this volume of sitngos, which of course I would not be playing if I were not profiting, I also took down the 5+Rebuys on Stars, and that upped my bankroll, and from then I never looked back. At the moment, I am very focused on the tournament circuit, and I am playing a lot of cash games. I feel very comfortable at cash game tables because it is so deep stacked and I feel like people mostly play their hands instead of their opponent’s hands. I am making a nice profit in cash games, live and online.

Maria: And how did you start entering the live tournament circuit?
HEVAD: In 2006 I won a seat for the WSOP Main Event on PokerStars. When I won it I started to scream in my room, my dad came running thinking I was injured or something, and got angry when he realized the screaming was because of poker. At that time, playing the WSOP main event was huge for me and my 5K bankroll.

Maria: But with only 5K in your bankroll, you still decided to play a 10K tournament?
HEVAD: At the time you couldn’t unregister if you won the seat, but even if you could, I would’ve played it anyway. I wouldn’t trade that experience and opportunity for anything. That was my chance to live the dream and make things happen. I was never a person who sits back and waits around for things to happen at the “right moment”. Maybe that’s not so good in some aspects of my life, but generally, if I want something, I go for it. Get it while it’s hot. But 2006 was just a build up of all that was going to come in 2007, and an important experience to allow it all to happen.

In 2007 I won 5 packages for the WSOP main event on PokerStars, and when I arrived in Vegas I still won another 6 or 7 seats in the live satellites (I don’t remember exactly how many, it was around that number). I made like 50K in equity just from playing these satellites (taking out travel and other expenses) and they allowed me to play all the other tournaments I wanted to during the Series, including the two $1500 Events that I went deep in (one was the one that Hellmuth won) and also a 6th place in a Bellagio $1,000 tourney. But the Main Event was still to come, and we all know how that turned out!

Maria: Yes, congratulations, that is a huge achievement for any poker player. What was the most memorable moments of your 2007 WSOP?
HEVAD: Well, other then the final table, of course, Day 3 was pretty sick, because I had the sickest possible table you can think of. Of the ten chip leaders, three were at the same table, and they were tough players. I had Gus Hansen to my immediate left, and Sorel Mizzi (Zangbezan24) across the table from me. We were all stacked and nobody was willing to back down from a pot. Once I made it through that table, and chipped up to about 600K, I knew I was going deep.

When the final table formed, I couldn’t have been more thrilled with my seat. I had the very good players to my right, and the shorter stacks to my left, but I lost some very decisive coin flips that could’ve made all the difference, and when my AQs did not improve against Jerry Yang’s Jacks, I had to be happy with my 6th place and US$956K in prize, which of course is the big score that every poker player chases after. And then came the offer to join Team PokerStars Pro, which was another victory within the victory, so it was all reason to celebrate and enjoy.

Maria: Congrats! And how has your life been since the WSOP?
HEVAD: Well, right after I took a much needed 2 month break from poker, and then returned full force to the live circuit. I started off at EPT London, then EPT Baden, then Foxwoods, the APPT Macau (by winning a seat in a $3.30 satellite on PokerStars), then 5 Diamond Bellagio, then PCA, then Borgata, then LAPC, and now I am relaxing a bit getting ready Foxwoods next week, then heading straight to 5 Diamond at the Bellagio, and then two months in Vegas for the WSOP. I have big goals for myself in 2008.

Maria: And in the middle of all of this you still find time to win one of the biggest events online, the Sunday Warm Up.
HEVAD: Yeah, that was fantastic. I really wanted that big online win, because I have been running terrible in online tournaments. I have been going deep in many of them, but in the end I have been losing those decisive pots that take you to the finish line, but this Sunday it was a different story.

When we started the final table, I was 4th in chips, but I had absolutely nothing to play with for a few orbits, and my stack whittled down, and when we were six-handed I was in 6th place and having to pick a spot to make a move. This is where so many sitngos come in to play, because of course at a final table you have more reads on your opponents and the table dynamics, but overall, it comes down to math when you have like 12 big blinds and need to go for the win. Finally the table folded around and I had Qd8d on the button, and pushed my 12 BBs all in, the big blind woke up with Jacks, but I sucked out on him, making a straight on his set, and after that I came back with new life to the tournament and did not let up anymore until I took 1st place.

When I won it, I started to yelling and running around the house in my boxer shorts wanting to celebrate, and my brother, who was on the couch playing Halo 3 barely looked at me, so yeah, winning online has it’s disadvantages when it comes to the celebration. But hey, I’m not complaining, if I always have to celebrate winning $97,000 this way, I’m fine with that!

Maria: Well, congratulations Hevad, it seems like you have more then earned your success and I hope it keeps coming your way, because you certainly have the right energy and outlook to be a constant winner at poker and at life. Any last words for your fans, which are many?
HEVAD: For anyone who plays this game, no matter how old you are, you have to have the passion. You can’t just grind it out if you don’t love the game. And also, have a lot of determination and put in the effort and work, because it is very VERY hard work. Look at the people you most admire in the game, they have a lot of love and respect for the game and for the other players, and the way they carry themselves shows that love and respect. I think the key is to take it seriously, even if the ride is fun as hell!